Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson during council at city hall in Ottawa Wednesday June 12, 2019. Tony CaldwellTony Caldwell / Postmedia

Maybe it’s the oversized eyeglasses, or more precisely the recent absence of them, that has caused Mayor Jim Watson’s Clark Kent-like transformation from affable consensus builder to no-nonsense council tough guy.

Surely you have noticed: Thanks to recent corrective eye surgery, Watson has pretty much doffed the large specs that have always framed his mug. Enter in his place the new Feisty Man — a tougher, more pugnacious mayor, suddenly anxious to take on all comers in a council chamber where critics have begun to flex their muscles and signalled that the days of Watson’s always getting his way are over.

Well, not if he has anything to say about it.

It was quite a show last week as he worked over one councillor after another on a range of issues, from cycling safety to bus fares to criticism of OC Transpo management, etc.

“How do you run a business or a city or your own household budget when you do nothing but dream big schemes?” Watson fumed in an interview shortly after council adjourned last week.

“The hypocrisy of some of these councillors. They get free parking. They get a $6,000 gas allowance, and they get a free bus pass.”

He was referring to calls by Coun. Diane Deans for a cut to bus fares until LRT is up and running. But it could have applied equally to demands from Coun. Catherine McKenney for a major transportation overhaul to improve bike safety, something Watson criticized as absent even a whiff of due diligence, like an assessment of costs.

But Watson saved his most stinging uppercuts for Coun. Shawn Menard who has emerged as perhaps his most strident critic since joining council last October. Menard has a way of getting under Watson’s skin. He is smart, well versed and apparently determined to make Watson’s latest term on council an uncomfortable one.

Councillor Shawn Menard during an Ottawa City Council meeting at City Hall.Jean Levac /
Postmedia News

Menard is at the centre of an emerging left wing of Centretown councillors who are increasingly determined to push an agenda of cycling and the environment and don’t find themselves bound at all to Watson’s more conservative posture on things like keeping tax hikes down.

It’s a little early to speculate, but Menard just might pose a challenge to Watson’s grip on the mayor’s chair down the road.

Watson accused him of insulting city staff with his complaints about transit management, demanding an apology for his “unacceptable behaviour,” an argument that soon carried over onto Twitter.

It was quite a show — Feisty Man vs. The Bus Man. Rest assured, we have not seen the last of this battle. Keep it up and the visitors’ gallery could become the hottest ticket in town.

While Watson may have won the day, the series of testy exchanges with several councillors left no doubt things have changed on a council that rarely used to cause him any trouble and whose members usually fell in line when he blew the whistle.

I have various theories on why we are seeing the emergence of Feisty Man of late. It may be the accumulated stress of repeated LRT delays that have transformed the centrepiece of his time in office into a prolonged nightmare of failed promises and mounting costs. We vaguely remember his mantra about “on time and on budget.” Now it’s “No train, more pain.”

With each passing day, the shine is coming off a project that was supposed to be his defining legacy. While it will get back on the rails eventually, for now, LRT has become OGM — One Giant Migraine.

Tunney’s Pasture Station From track level.CITY OF OTTAWA /
Postmedia

Or maybe Watson’s tougher guy transformation is a reaction to The Incredible Doug, a bull in a china shop premier capable of upending city budgets and leaving a trail of cuts and misery in his wake.

Most likely, though, it’s a response to far more activist voices emerging in council chambers. This is no bobblehead council. Massaging and cajoling councillors doesn’t work anymore.

It’s going to take a tougher, more disciplined style of leadership to carry the day and ensure the wheels don’t come off this term of council. Enter Feisty Man.

Gibbons is the former publisher and chief executive of the Ottawa Sun. He can be heard weekdays 12:30-3 p.m. on 1310 NEWS

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